What's Meghan's apparent attitude toward ethics? What does the poet think of her attitude? Is Meghan's attitude toward class and her social role as a student ethical? Why or why not? Is Meghan a potential Stephen Glass? Explain.
(Don't treat this as just another task to get through. Use some thought. I don't wish to read anymore any three- or four-line responses submitted at the last minute.)
Please respond by 4 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 15.
TO MEGHAN, ASLEEP IN ETHICS CLASS
As if what people are is all they’ll ever be
you close your eyes
and it’s suddenly night everywhere and always
nothing can reach you not even
the agitated ghosts of ancient philosophers
swirling around our hot basement classroom
but to you it’s just words love death etc.
so why wake you to see the firelight
beating frantically on the walls of Plato’s cave
when your sleeping face is beautifully composed
like that of a fairy-tale princess
with a piece of poisoned apple caught in her throat
Teaching Notes
You must become the flame on the candle. - Thich Nhat Hanh
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
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Is Media Ethics Education DOA?
It sounds like a joke Jay Leno would tell during his opening monologue on The Tonight Show. Hear about the graduate students at the prestigious journalism school? They got caught cheating on an ethics exam. Ha ha ha. Except that’s actually what happened at Columbia University
No one admitted cheating despite pressure from the school’s administrators and pleas from classmates, who feared the scandal would damage the market value of their degrees. Meanwhile, the teacher of the course, New York Times columnist Samuel G. Freedman, refused to comment. But if the disgruntled posts on RateMyProfessors.com are any indication, his students hadn’t exactly been soaking up knowledge. “Maybe he could e-mail his ‘speeches’ to the students instead of making everyone suffer through the most wasted class in j-school. . . ,” one read.
There’s an old cowboy saying that goes, “When your horse dies, get off.” Journalism ethics education is a dead horse. Or else those aren’t vultures circling in the sky.
No one admitted cheating despite pressure from the school’s administrators and pleas from classmates, who feared the scandal would damage the market value of their degrees. Meanwhile, the teacher of the course, New York Times columnist Samuel G. Freedman, refused to comment. But if the disgruntled posts on RateMyProfessors.com are any indication, his students hadn’t exactly been soaking up knowledge. “Maybe he could e-mail his ‘speeches’ to the students instead of making everyone suffer through the most wasted class in j-school. . . ,” one read.
There’s an old cowboy saying that goes, “When your horse dies, get off.” Journalism ethics education is a dead horse. Or else those aren’t vultures circling in the sky.
A Question for Socrates
The question of how ethics is learned, or even if it can be, is as old as Western philosophy. In Plato’s dialog Meno the title character asks, “Can you tell me, Socrates, whether virtue is acquired by teaching or by practice; or if neither by teaching nor practice, then whether it comes to man by nature, or in what other way?” Of course, Socrates, being Socrates, resists giving a definite answer. But we can’t. The sad fact is, students had better get an effective ethics education now or they may never.
Last summer I conducted an ethics workshop for some reporters and editors at the Poughkeepsie Journal, a small daily in upstate
But what I remember most is the air of defeat that clung to the staff as we sat on hard plastic chairs in the break room discussing the cases. I could hear in their voices the bitterness and cynicism of employees forced to follow corporate policies they despised. Recently, for example, the paper had started running display ads on the front page and section fronts, a much more grievous ethical lapse, their mumbled asides suggested, than anything the case studies might have to offer.
I don’t want my students to ever wear the gray, defeated expression I saw that day on the faces at the Journal. But given the downward direction in which the media are moving, and fast, how in the world can I prevent it from happening?
Teaching Media Ethics by Telling Stories
A friend of mine who teaches at a big Midwestern university recounts in class the events of her first week as a reporter for the Minneapolis Tribune. She was sent to Duluth to cover Democratic presidential candidate Hubert Humphrey on the campaign trail. When they were introduced, Humphrey vigorously shook her hand. “Oh yes, Susan,” he said, “I read your stuff all the time.” He couldn’t have read her stuff, though; she hadn’t written anything yet. “Just a few words,” she explains to her students, “but words that taught this fledging reporter a great lesson about pols and the little lies they tell.”
I usually find occasion during the semester to quote I. F. Stone’s dictum, “Every government is run by liars and thieves, and nothing they say should be believed,” to make the same point. But Susan’s story makes the point better. That’s because it has existential force. Her story vividly captures in a way a secondhand quote can’t the realities of a reporter’s life.
Some might think telling “war stories” is a waste of precious class time. I’ve a colleague who didn’t want to fall into the “trap” of regaling students with stories ad nauseam (“which, let’s face it, is easier than teaching or grading,” he said). So one semester he kept track. When he toted it all up at the end, he was surprised that he’d used less than an hour - out of 45 – talking about his newspaper experiences. And yet, he admitted, it was his stories that students seemed to remember most.
“Stories teach us how to live,” Daniel Taylor said in his essay, “The Ethical Implications of Storytelling.” What he meant was that stories preserve our experience for contemplation and evaluation. Although not all stories carry a heavy message, there’s an entire category of stories, so-called “exemplary tales,” that are told to convey a moral.
Our war stories are potentially just such tales. They can provide evidence, in ethicist John Barton’s words, of “how real human beings live through various crises and trials and remain human.” My colleague who kept tabs on his storytelling has described his stories as cautionary. Most, he said, deal with “screwups I learned from.”
But sometimes the storyteller and the audience can’t agree on what exactly the moral of a story is.
When Susan was a cub reporter on the Tribune, she interviewed the Beatles, who were on their second tour of the States. She got into their hotel room by dressing up as a waitress in an ugly, mustard-colored uniform and accompanying an actual room service waiter upstairs. Ringo took one look at her little plastic name tag – it read “Donna Brown” – and snorted, “What kind of name is that?” The waiter nudged her in the side. “Tell them what you real name is,” he urged. She did, as well as her reason for being there. Rather than throw her out, the Beatles politely answered her questions. They even let her phone for a photographer. The next day her story ran on the front page, with a photo of John sitting at a table and looking up at her and laughing as she poured coffee in his cup. She still has a glossy print of that photo somewhere.
Many of Susan’s students think she’s nuts for not having the photo hanging up in her office. They also think she’s nuts for saying she’d never participate in the same kind of stunt today. To her celebrity-struck students, disguising herself as a hotel waitress to get an interview with the Beatles seems soooo cool. They lose all sight of the fact that it wasn’t a story of vital public interest that demanded undercover methods.
Susan intends one lesson when she talks about her hard day’s night, but her students, living in a paparazzi-saturated culture, draw another. “It may be a lost cause,” she remarked to me.
Or maybe not. Negotiations over what the point of a story is can be part of the point of the story. In the process of negotiating, we test different interpretations, try out different themes. This is helpful. This is educational. Lawrence Kohlberg, the Harvard psychologist famous for his research on the stages of moral development, contended that “the teaching of virtue is the asking of questions. . . not the giving of answers.” Stories don’t necessarily have to yield clear moral rules to be of value. It’s enough sometimes if they just give us something to think about.
26 comments:
From what is given, it appears that Meghan's attitude towards ethics is nonchalant. She takes the topic of ethics with a grain of salt, ergo her falling asleep in class. This act can certainly be seen as unethical, since her social role as a student is to gain knowledge in the classroom setting in order for her to apply what she's learned to the real world when and/or if she graduates.
However, to play Devil's Advocate, this is based on the poet's perspective, who we can safely say is a professor. We, as the reader, do not know Meghan's side of the story as to why she's sleeping. She could be interested in ethics, but the night prior had inadequate rest leading her to fall asleep in class and appear uninterested. If Meghan were to have written a poem about her views on ethics class, then we can better distinguish what her attitude towards ethics is. Nonetheless, the act of her sleeping in class is still unethical for said reasons.
To answer the question of if she may become a potential Stephen Glass, I wouldn't go as far as to say that. As David Brooks mentioned in his column, The Moral Naturalist, "[p]eople who behave morally don't generally do it because they have a greater knowledge; they do it because they have a greater sensitivity to other people's points of view." If she pursues a career in journalism, she can still perform her journalistic duties in an ethical manner without having classroom knowledge of what is ethical and what is not simply because as a human being, it is innate to know right from wrong. Basically, her not paying attention in ethics class doesn't automatically make her a liar or an unethical practitioner.
Meghan’s attitude toward ethics is one of ignorance. Her slumberous state represents her lack of interest and willingness to learn and understand things that she knows very little to nothing of and about. The poet seems to think her attitude is undesirable because she fails to seek knowledge and gain new perspective. He taunts her with his words about the ghosts haunting her. She is missing out on the larger picture and probably will never know the things she could gain from ethics. The poet feels irritation and uses sarcasm while she remains in her unconscious state. This is shown when he says, “as if what people are is all they will ever be.” Meghan denies her social role as a student in that she fails to acknowledge and participate in discussions and the learning process and remains blind to it. The poet frowns upon her actions and seems disappointed that she is only depriving herself from knowledge that could shape perspectives and critical thinking in the future. I get this from the last quote about the fairytale princess with a piece of poison apple lodged in her throat. Its like the innocence she possesses asleep represents the corruption that results from her dreamlike state. As a student, it is obviously unethical. She should be trying to enrich and build upon knowledge she has to become a more active member of society. With this frame of mind, Meghan wont get very far in life.
I can't help but think Meghan isn't well-versed on that "golden rule" of treating others as you'd like to be treated. I wonder how Meghan would feel to have her own audience doze off in indifference to her every word. The poet seems equal parts discouraged and fascinated by Meghan. On one hand, the tone of the poem suggests the poet isn't necessarily thrilled with Meghan's class behavior. Yet, this poet musters the interest to conjure a fantastical, serene, Disney princess-like painting of Meghan in the poem's final moments.
I do think Meghan is acting rather unethically, given there is a standard of "rule utilitarianism" on matters of professors and students. As David Brooks suggests in "What Life Asks of Us," there are certain rules and obligations within our institutions. A professor should not hurl slurs at his or her students, and, likewise, a student, not unlike Meghan, should not utilize his or her 75 minutes of class by slipping into dreamland.
Is, however, Meghan the next Stephen Glass? Well, under the right circumstances, I suppose many aspiring journalists could be the next Stephen Glass, especially if they exude Meghan's indifference to ethics education. Take a crafty writer and surround him with adoring colleagues who devour his work and consider "the juicier story, the better," and that writer might well slip into half-truths and fabrication. The great hope is that education in media ethics will serve to drive home a broader sense of epistemic responsibility.
According to the the poem, it would seem that Meghan's attitude towards ethics is certainly not what it should be. It appears that her attitude is both apathetic and it can be inferred that she is disinterested in the subject matter.
The poet realizes Meghan's apathy and was inspired to write this poem about it. The poet is obviously agitated that Meghan is not fully absorbing the important subject matter and is astonished that something so important that spans generations of thought can not keep her interested enough not to fall asleep.
Meghan's attitude towards class is obviously not ethical, not to mention rude. Meghan is a student who is supposed to learn and interact with the teacher and students in the class she takes with hope of gaining knowledge and understanding that will make her more versed in the subject. She obviously does not have the same ethical, or moral, code that a normal student does. If it is in black and white terms, then yes she is ethically wrong to have slept.
However, I do not think that she is a potential Stephen Glass, at least with just this one instance as a reference point. I think it is a bit of a stretch to say that someone is going to become a world-known liar and ethical teaching point just because she fell asleep. That being said, if this was a normal occurrence her transformation into another Stephen Glass could happen. By sleeping through valuable lessons and points that are integral to becoming a solid media-related employee, she may not have the necessary knowledge to know what is an ethical overstep and what isn't.
There are many options to consider to why Megan was so tired that she could not stay awake for class. Maybe she had a busy day, busy night before, woke up early, possibly no time to nap, or maybe she is sick? With all options aside, there is no excuse to why she has fallen asleep during class. If Megan was conscious of being ethical, she would have either sent an e-mail to her professor and not come to class, or she would have not done whatever would have made her tired in the first place in respect of her professor and self. There are always excuses for reasons why people do what they do. Most of the time, no one considers those whom they are affecting when given selfish circumstances.
The poet obviously sees her as unaware of her actions. He is obviously affected by her falling asleep and offended by it. The student isn’t taking any consideration that anyone would feel as though her falling asleep is disrespectful or unethical. The poet however sees that her reason for sleeping as equally evil as a poisonous apple, meaning there is no good reason for why she is asleep in class.
Megan’s attitude towards class is uncaring and her social role as a student is not ethical. To sleep in class is the same as not showing up for class, or leaving half way through class. This is disrespectful towards the professor who takes his time out of his day to educate and inform complete strangers. It would only be ethical to have the respect to stay awake, pay attention, and contribute to the learning in some way.
Meghan’s attitude towards ethics is nonchalant, as seen in this poem. We cannot tell exactly how she feels, but just by her presentation of falling asleep, we can come to an assumption that it is nothing of dire importance to her. If ethics class was of importance to Meghan, maybe she would have gotten a better nights rest the night before, or at least made an effort to stay awake and pay attention in class.
We are not sure why Meghan is sleeping, but the poet decides for us that Meghan simply does not care. By saying things such as “the agitated ghosts of ancient philosophers, swirling around our hot basement classroom,” the poet acquaints that Meghan’s sleep has bothered the ghosts, agitating them. It does not seem to mean anything to her, as the poet also says that these are just words, and they have little meaning to Meghan as she sleeps “like that of a fairy-tale princess.”
A question of ethical roles comes up while Meghan sleeps in class. Meghan’s role as a student in ethics class is to study ethics and learn how to practice good ethics in the future. Therefore, by sleeping in class, and possessing a nonchalant attitude about the importance of ethics, Meghan is not being very ethical with her role as a student. Although we cant say for sure she sleeps during every ethics class, we can make this assumption off of the poets view and interpretation of Meghan sleeping.
I however, think it is an absurd stretch to compare a student who slept during one class to a liar like Steven Glass. For all we know Steven Glass could have aced his ethics class, and just not put those practices to use. Knowledge is power, but it is up to the individual to embrace that knowledge and put it into use in their lives. Steven Glass most likely knew what he was doing was wrong, but kept on doing it. Meghan might not even think what she is doing is wrong. She could be a great student; she could be a poor student. But we cannot make an inference on whether she is an honest or dishonest person while her eyes are closed.
--Evan Brieff
From the information provided in the poem, on that particular day when Meghan fell asleep in class she was too tired to pay attention to ethics. Maybe she was up late the night before studying or partying. She might have a sleeping disorder like insomnia, or she may just find ethics to be boring. It’s really hard to say what he opinion is about ethics because she is asleep during the lecture. I can’t automatically assume she finds the entire subject uninteresting because she fell asleep in class one day. There are a lot of other factors that go into determining her attitude towards ethics.
The poet seems intrigued by Meghan’s attitude in class that day. At first I thought the poet came off as sounding annoyed because I assumed the poet was the professor. However, as I re-read the poem a few times I noticed that it is unclear who the poet may be. It could be another student in the class observing Meghan’s actions. Regardless of who it is, the poet’s voice is of concern, and interest. This is interesting because the poet’s interest in Meghan is the opposite of Meghan’s interest in ethics.
I don’t think falling asleep in class would be considered ethical because she is not following the rules and standards of the classroom which is to be attentive. As a student she has the responsibility to pay attention in class and participate. When she signed up for the class she made it an obligation to attend and be awake while sitting in class.
I don’t think Meghan is a potential Stephen Glass based on the information from the poem. It just isn’t enough to label her as a potential fraudulent journalist because she fell asleep in ethics class one day. However, she may have missed some important notes and discussion on a significant ethical topic which could hinder her ethical perception.
Meghan appears to be uninterested in ethics; she clearly does not care enough on this particular day to stay awake and concentrate. However, we do not know the exact factors that are contributing to her sleepy state. While she might be sleeping purely because she does not care for the topic of ethics, there is the possibility of other reasons for her fatigue. However, the first thing that comes to mind is that she doesn't feel the need to pay attention to the class. Especially if this is from the perspective of the professor, it does not seem too unfair for this to be the initial thought.
The poet is clearly annoyed by her attitude, enough to write a poem on it. The poet also seems interested and maybe even slightly amused by her attitude though. The attitude conveyed in the poem expresses irritation, but also gives the impression that the poet knows it's her loss, especially when saying "so why even wake you to see the firelight". The poet is amused by her disinterest, knowing all she is missing out on and that she is doing a disservice to herself.
Meghan's attitude toward class is definitely not ethical. As a student, it is Meghan's job to pay attention and learn as much as possible. Falling asleep is also disrespectful to the teacher, whether it is meant to be perceived that way or not. Meghan made a commitment to the class and needs to honor that by staying awake and focused in order to enhance her knowledge.
While Meghan's behavior is unethical, I don't see her as a potential Stephen Glass. While I suppose anyone could really become like Glass, I don't think her attitude in ethics class signals she's more likely to become like Glass than anyone else. Perhaps she is not particularly interested in the topic of ethics, but that doesn't necessarily mean she's an unethical person or will not follow ethical principles of journalism.
i'd ask you to consider Meghan's actions in relation to her classmates. that is, if the classroom is a community, a society in small, how should one view Meghan's behavior?
I don't think that Meghan has any attitudes or feelings towards ethics class. She apparently has no interest in the subject because she is able to simply fall asleep.
It seems that the speaker feels an unusual mix of agitation and pity towards Meghan. He refers to the "agitated ghosts of ancient philosophers" and the "poisoned apple that is caught in her throat." He is angry that she is ignoring such powerful information and is almost sarcastically sympathetic toward her poisonous ignorance.
Meghan's role as a student in this class is completely unethical. A part of being a student is having your mind open to an array of facts and ideas; Meghan can't even keep her eyes open.
Does Meghan have the potential to become the next Stephen Glass?
I don't think she does. Glass was an intelligent young man who knew the ethical code, yet chose to completely ignore and manipulate it. Meghan on the other hand, was asleep when she was learning the ethical code so I don't think there is any capacity to get away with something so drastic. She may however find herself caught in an unknown ethical dilemma with a boss or the law. When she finds herself in such a dilemma, she might wish she stayed awake in media ethics.
Meghan's attitude in relation to her peers is unethical because like the speaker said, it acts as a "poison". For example, if you have one person in the work place that doesn't follow the code of ethics, they could endanger the whole organization.
Furthermore, if Meghan is snoring loudly, it is extremely disruptive to the learning process.
From what I can get out of this poem, Meghan’s attitude and frame of mind toward ethics is definitely absolute ignorance. We can’t exactly tell how she feels, but just her falling asleep during class shows her lack of interest and want, to learn things she does not know much about. If ethics class was of higher importance to Meghan perhaps she would be more alert and able to make more of an effort to stay awake and pay attention. It is obvious that the poet is irritated with Meghan and the fact that she has fallen asleep and could care less about anything that is going on. What we do not know for sure is why Meghan is actually asleep. There could be many other reasons why other than she is just simply not interested in the subject or learning about ethics. However, the poet describes Meghan as she sleeps “like that of a fairy-tale princess.” This statement sounds to me like she has no worries or cares in the world at that moment, which is usually how any person looks as they sleep. Meghan’s role as a student is to study and learn how to practice good ethics and by her falling asleep during this class is showing bad student behavior. I do not believe that we can assume, just from this poets point of view, that Meghan is or will be anything like Steven Glass. He was beyond “unethical.” He made up people, places and events, organizations and quotations. Sometimes, he made up entire articles. And to back it all up, he created fake notes, fake voicemails, fake faxes, and even a fake website. Whatever it took to deceive his editors, not to mention hundreds of thousands of readers and this just makes him an all around liar. Therefore, we cannot make an inference on whether or not Meghan is just a poor student or a dishonest person who will go on to perform unethically throughout her life.
Meghan does not seem to care about ethics. If she is falling asleep, she probably finds the idea of ethics unimportant and irrelevant to her own life.
The poet does not appreciate that Meghan is falling asleep in ethics class. She is breaking the "Golden Rule" of ethics which is to treat others the way you want to be treated. This mere fact may deeply offend the poet.
Meghan's attitude toward class is unethical, however this isn't uncommon. Many students fall asleep in class no matter what the class, not just in ethics class. However the normality of this action does not make it any more moral. I think Meghan does not care about her social role as a student. If she cared, she would be actively present in class instead of sleeping.
I do not think Meghan could be the next Stephen Glass. Stephen Glass had the adoration of colleagues. In order to get that, you have to have a social role in the things you are doing, which Meghan is not. Meghan doesn't seem to care much about putting effort into anything much less fabricating stories.
Meghan is, in this particular moment, a person who disregards ethical behavior by allowing herself to fall asleep in class.
The poet finds Meghan’s attitude toward ethics to be bad because she is careless enough to fall asleep in the midst of the class and the speaker talks sarcastically of Meghan because she finds the topic to be important and believes that Meghan should be paying attention.
According to this poetry Meghan has conflicted attitudes towards ethics in the classroom. It is unethical, as well as rude, towards the teacher for her to fall asleep in the midst of her class. On the other hand, it would have been equally rude of Meghan to skip class in order to catch up on her beauty rest. I can only conclude that Meghan is an ethical being choosing what she found to be the most ethical decision of the two scenarios.
Meghan could very well be the next Stephen Glass. Glass’s professional life was built on a structure of unethical behavior. Although what Meghan did was not remotely close to the magnitude of Glass’s’ unethical behavior everyone has to start somewhere. Thus, falling asleep in class may be the beginning for Meghan of a life filled with unethical behavior.
At least now we know where the title of the blog comes from. Meghan seems like she was disinterested in discussing moral dilemmas. Instead sleeping through class, claiming willful ignorance in her safety net of slumber. But is she really safe? Meghan's apparent attitude towards ethics is a harmful one because apparently it kills her in the end. A figurative death that she seems to have committed herself. Swallowing that poisoned apple. These ancient philosophers are urging her to learn, Plato ceaselessly beating against the wall, but it may be like beating a dead horse.
The poet seems disappointed. Almost to the point where he questions why he should even care anymore. Should he let Meghan sleep, choose her own destiny? He writes, “So why wake you to see the firelight.” Its ultimately the student’s responsibility to grasp the material. Aversely, the poet could also feel overwhelmed. The line in the poem that I personally think is the most powerful is the agitated ancient philosophers. Just like the professor, these poets are frantic to teach the students their life’s work in a limited amount of time. If your just wasting time and sleeping through the lecture, then it’s even more troubling because students represent the future. And here it doesn’t look so good.
Sleeping in class is disrespectful, but I don’t think it’s unethical. Most likely, Meghan is on student loans which are paying for her education. She will have to pay this money back after she graduates. She’s doing what she wants when she knows the consequences. Once again, it’s all about personal responsibility. If she feels sleeping in class is favorable for the short term then she is incorporating the ethical system of Consequentialism. The end will justify the means, so if she’s well rested then her behavior in class was worth it.
I wouldn’t say Meghan’s like Stephen Glass. Glass manipulated and lied for four years to gain an advantage. He misrepresented the facts to become a well-sought after journalist. He didn’t want to build experience in the craft like all journalists should do, rather he went straight for the fame of the trade. Meghan might want to gain an advantage like all journalists do, assuming she is a journalism major, but most of us work our way up. Furthermore, since Glass did this almost 15 years ago, I think there are safeguards put in place now, especially in an increasingly web-aware world, to prevent any major fabrications in content.
Meghan, I don't believe, necessarily dislikes Ethics Class. She's just looking at it from a more apathetic perspective. She seems to not really understand the point of all of this; the "love death, etc." (OMG NAME OF THE SITE LOLZ) reflects her feelings that the study of media ethics is cyclical, as are love and death. It can be easy to think this way as a student; that what you're learning now, someone will learn next semester, and so on and so on, and you're just one more student in the massive machine that is education. Furthermore, especially in the field of Media Ethics, it can be easy to adapt a "What difference will it make" attitude. The media is massive, and one person being more informed about ethics isn't going to change the whole scope. The topics of debate are so complex, and as we’ve already found out, there’s never one clear answer. So to Meghan, learning Media Ethics is almost futile.
A completely, entirely, definitely HYPOTHETICAL ethics professor, who also happens to write poetry, wants to say to Meghan, “WAKE THE F UP.” From his perspective, he can’t understand how Meghan can sit there asleep and not care about what he’s teaching. “How can she sit there and be the media’s pawn,” he’s probably asking himself. He wants her to, at the very least, look at things from a personal perspective, and be able to judge for herself what’s worth reading and what’s not. And while one person alone isn’t going to make a difference, the education of the masses will.
I’ve only scanned the previous responses, so I could be wrong, but I can’t BELIEVE nobody spoke about the reference to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave (+20 Poet Points), a story that questions how we perceive reality. Again, this entirely theoretical professor is trying to hard to get to the truth, scrape his way down to reality, (beating on the walls of the cave), that if you were to see him in that cave, he’d probably look pretty insane. But she’s just asleep peacefully, not worrying a damn thing what reality is – and that’s where I think this professor, whether he realizes it or not, is kind of questioning whether his own struggles for truth are really worth it, when he could be asleep peacefully too. But, in the end, she’s really choking, and he gets the last laugh (or does he? Even though the poem ends with her choking, He’s still beating on a wall. That can’t be a good way to live.)
I think Meghan is being unethical in regards to her role as a student. I think to succeed we need to destroy this myth that everyone has their own right to basically do whatever the hell you want; its not okay to be ignorant of the things you decide are acceptable to ignorant of, and expect others to be knowledgeable of the things you think they should be knowledgeable of. In other words, you should at the very least stay awake for class, so you can form judgments and opinions about what’s being taught.
I think Meghan’s more likely to be a Stephen Glass; though it’s not a certainty, as she could still have a conscience. But, to quote James Murphy, “They’re throwing Marxism to pieces – but maybe the argument is the pieces.” In other words, the DISCUSSION is the point, not coming to any grand final conclusion. And that’s exactly what Meghan is sleeping through.
Megan's attitude towards her ethics class is that of disinterest. The subject of ethics is very opinion based and thought provoking. If she was willing to show just an ounce of interest she would join conversation and not be asleep. Ergo the assumption that Megan is not interested in learning about ethics. Her attitude towards the class is rather unethical. As a student one may not always like or care about the class they are taking. However, it is your duty as a student to pay attention and give your best effort. By sleeping through the class Megan clearly shows that she does not want to give her best effort. It is also quite rude of her to sleep while another individual is trying to help her become a more well rounded individual.
From what I understand, the poet as well feels that Megan is not showing any interest in the ethics class. Such stimulating issues can strike her fancy and keep her away. It's like the poet feels that there is no reason to try and get her interested because she has clearly shown that she would rather sleep than learn about ethics.
Do I think she can become the next Stephen Glass? No I do not. I think that she made a poor ethical decision that could have resulted from so many different things. Perhaps she had a poor nights sleep the night before and ethics just happened to be the class she slept in. I do not feel that Megan chose to be unethical, but that is what happened. She may not show interest in her ethics class, but that does not mean that she does not know how to act ethically.
Meghan’s attitude towards ethics is clearly one of apathy. Her interest in the subject is minimal as it has failed to capture her attention causing her to fall asleep in class. The first line of the poem “as if what people are is all they’ll ever be” shows Meghan’s indifference off the bat. The line conveys how Meghan does not view people as overly complex individuals who may face ethical dilemmas and thus does not see the subject work acknowledging.
Meghan’s lack of interest towards ethics is further reinforced by the line “so why wake you to see the firelight, beating frantically on the walls of Plato’s cave.” Through her unresponsive nature being juxtaposed against the passion that should arise from the intensity of the lesson being taught, it is clear that Meghan has limited interest in the subject of ethics.
Realistically, Meghan most likely fell asleep because she is just an average student who finds it difficult to focus on subject matters that do not spawn her interest. While her actions may not be ethical in terms of her social role as a student (in which Meghan should be giving her teacher her full attention,) it does not ultimately correlate directly to her beliefs on ethics as a whole. So to compare Meghan to Stephen Glass is far too much. While she may not be interested in learning about ethics in a formal classroom setting, it doesn’t necessary mean that Meghan is void of an innate moral code that would prevent her from making ethical life choices.
- Kimberly De Jesus
many of you excuse meghan by saying maybe she's the victim of unfortunate circumstances -- lack of sleep, for example, or sickness. but what if this isn't rare or occasional behavior? why couldnt' be -- and isn't it more likely that it is -- a result of her character?
It is clear that Meghan is apathetic and nonchalant towards ethics. There is nothing ethical about her actions. Like an ethical student, Meghan should be willing to learn and have her eyes and ears open to new information. However, it is evident that she is uninterested and rather slumber in ethics class.
The poet, who may be characterized as the professor or an diligent classmate who is agitated by the sight of Meghan falling asleep, seems to feel disheartened as well as disturbed at her attitude.
Like mentioned earlier, Meghan's apathetic and uninterested attitude is both unethical towards the class and her social role as a student. While many students are engaged in the class, seeking for more knowledge, the unappreciative Meghan is the lucid example of an unethical student. It is also discouraging to the Professor, since he/she is putting much effort in educating his/her students all they can about ethics, and a student like Meghan is dozing off despite the professor's endeavors.
I do not believe Meghan is a potential Stephen Glass because at least Glass took initiative to do some kind of work. In spite of his fraudulent reporting, he was intelligent (shown through his college years at UPenn as well as Law School at Georgetown). Yes, he was a form of unethical journalism, however, at least he took an initiative.
If Meghan's attitude is more habitual and happens throughout every Ethics class; then I'd say she has no interest in Ethics at all. Her actions are not that ethical; as a student, you're supposed to pay attention in class. In addition, I also wonder if she sleeps during other classes, or if Ethics is the only class she sleeps in. That could also be important in discovering more about her character.
However, it could also be that maybe she dislikes the teacher in her class. The poem also doesn't talk about whether or not her Ethics teacher is actually good at teaching the subject or not. Maybe if she had a different teacher, she would pay attention in class. I also wonder if Ethics is a required class for her, or if it isn't. Some people pay less attention in courses that aren't required for them and that are only electives.
To me it feels like the poem just looks at Meghan from an outsider's point of view, and not what actually may be going on with her. I think I'd rather have more information about her in order to make a better judgment about this situation.
From simply reading the poem it appears that Meghan's opinion of Ethics is that she thinks little of it or does not appreciate at it for what it truly is. Maybe not from carelessness so much as ignorance, the line “agitated ghosts of ancient philosophers....but to you it's just words love death etc” It seems the author of this poem is commenting on the ability of Meghan to be so unimpressed by the life's work and discussion of these men. She has the ability in the first place to just take a class on these ideas and philosophies that only add to her already cultured mind. However by falling asleep she does not even consider the class that she is sitting in on worthy enough of her attention or even consciousness.
It seems that the author of this poem sees Meghan not as just an ignorant or careless person but maybe someone who will never see the value in ethics that he/she does. With the opening line “As if people are is all they'll ever be.” The author paints a picture of a classroom that is swimming with information and ideas of ethics, but through all of this commotion Meghan can still close her eyes and fall asleep. From the mind of the author, asleep is all Meghan will ever be. She is asleep to the information around her and will never truly “wake up” and see the importance that it holds. “why wake you to see the firelight.” Why should anyone attempt to teach you something you may not want to learn?
The ideas that maybe she did not get enough sleep arise in the mind's of some people, but then the question is why? As a college student she must realize the kind of impact that this must have. If she were to truly care about the class and what would be said in the class she would think out her sleep schedule more, allowing her to stay awake in her class. She would fight to stay awake harder, instead of slipping away into a world where there is no ethics but instead whatever else she wishes.
She appears as a “fairy tale princess” because in her slumbered state she is trapped in a world of fantasy where anything can happen, and anything she wants can happen. In her mind she is given the preference of doing whatever she wishes, and they may just be to avoid having to sit through an ethics class. Another idea that comes to mind is just with the word of “princess” which conjures ideas of spoiled and care free. As a princess you are thought of to have no responsibilities and the world is at your finger tips. The author comparing Meghan to a princess may simple mean that they see her as a girl who does not believe she is obligated to stay awake during the entire class. The usage of the “poison apple” may indicate the idea that she has poised herself or plotted her own downfall by simply being the princess that she is associated with. The thought that she may be above the idea of ethics has poisoned her mind and led her to fall asleep, doomed to never understand and appreciate the ideas and philosophies of ethics. (continues)
(continued)
Ultimately I do not believe that her behavior is ethical as a student because by her sleeping she is defeating her very purpose of being in the class room in the first place. Sure, she will be marked present for attendance but she will not serve her purpose of being there which is to learn. A good attendance grade means nothing if your mind is not present during the lecture. The entire purpose of going to class and taking a class is to retain information, and it is one of if not the most important obligation of a student. By falling asleep she is going against one of the most critical components of being a student, learning.
If Meghan is a journalism major I suppose she could be considered on her way to being a future Stephen Glass. By sleeping through her ethics class she is choosing not to take note of the importance of being a good journalist and taking responsibility for everything and anything that she writes. Instead what she could be doing is simply learning how to write a good story and never appreciate the rules and unspoken code of being a journalist. By sleeping through the class that could be viewed in a few ways that could be comparable to Stephen Glass. She may be taking the class just for the grade and not the actual lesson to take with her into her career. Stephen Glass simply cared about writing a good story and did not care how he went about doing so, even if that meant lying. Maybe comparing Meghan directly to Stephen Glass is a little harsch, but the possible symbolism behind her sleeping in Ethics may not be too extreme of a thought. Her “article” is the grade that she will receive at the end of this class, and her “fabricated sources” would be the lack of knowledge that she actually received during the obtainment of her final grade.
Meghan's reponsibilty is to gain much from her ethics class. Falling asleep will surely diminish her chances of that. Such action does gives an impression of 'lack of interest' on her part.
On the question of being un-ethical, then off-course she is. However, in my opinion,She is being un-ethical only to the professor. To the other members of the class, well not at all due to the fact that she is not being a 'stumbling block' in their path of learning (unless she was snoring!). In her case she is the consumer. She purchased or is purchasing her education and therefore it is up to her how to deal with what she hasbought or is buying. The seller has a right to be dealth with fairly and respectfully during the tranaction.
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